As you’ll probably remember , Zellers was a strip-mall-mainstay for a number of decades in Canada. The discount department retail chain was founded in 1931, but hit its peak in the late 1990s with about 350 locations. But in the 2000s, it began losing ground to big-box competitors such as Walmart. By 2013, the bulk of Zellers locations were liquidated and shuttered, and by 2020, the very last location was closed, leaving only plastic bags emblazoned with their fire engine red logo in the wake.
“I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that it has legs given the fact that Zellers started to decline after we saw Walmart enter Canada,” says Alex Maksymec, Vice President and Sales Representative with. “Even today, that’s the case. There’s Costco, and then other deep discounters like Dollarama, Dollar Tree, Winners, Giant Tiger. It’s really a crowded area for for discounting.”
“I think Zellers has a nostalgic feel for baby boomers, but I don’t think that the Zellers brand is going to resonate with Gen Z or millennials or even Gen X, quite frankly. I don’t think they have any sort of emotional attachment,” he says.“We know how special Zellers is in the hearts and minds of people in Canada.